South African journalist, author, screenwriter, filmmaker, 2022 Film Independent Project Involve Fellow, and a Creative Arts & Writing scholar at Adelaide University.
Tumelo Tladi is a South African journalist, author, screenwriter, filmmaker, and 2022 Film Independent Project Involve Fellow.She earned her Bachelor of Journalism (BJRN) from Rhodes University, then embarked on a career spanning ten years within the digital media, higher education and entertainment spaces in South Africa.Driven by the desire to see more stories that resonated with her, she called time on her stint in creative communications at MultiChoice Group, plunged into film and television production, and was awarded the National Film and Video Foundation’s (NFVF) prestigious International Bursary. She obtained her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Writing and Producing for Television from Long Island University in Brooklyn, New York, becoming an alum of their distinguished TV Writers Studio, founded by late Blazing Saddles screenwriter and filmmaker, Norman Steinberg.While the stories Tumi creates largely reflect her experiences of growing up in a diverse country that’s often plagued by its history of systemic racial prejudice and injustice, she also writes within the genre format, exploring the full spectrum of the Black experience with Black characters at the fore.#BlackVoices #AfricanStoriesIn June 2026, Tumi will embark on a journey into academia, as she begins her PhD practice-led research in Creative Arts & Writing with Adelaide University — a chapter she spent three years preparing for as she navigated the storytelling space in South Africa.
Tumi's known among her tribe of fellow creators and mentors for her emotionally-charged scenes, complex characters, as well as her Black female-driven stories. One such story, her historical fiction pilot project Exile, advanced to the finals of the 2021 Film Independent Episodic Lab.She went on to be invited to participate in Film Independent’s 2022 Project Involve initiative. Here, she was among a diverse group of 30 emerging filmmakers, as a Screenwriting Fellow, for Film Independent's renowned flagship artist development program.Tumi's Project Involve dramatic comedy short film No Vows, No Cows, helmed by Directing Fellow San-San Onglatco, stars a cast led by celebrated Los Angeles-based South African actress Bubu Mazibuko. Supported by major sponsor Warner Media's OneFifty, the 2022 Project Involve slate of short films premiered in Los Angeles in January 2023. No Vows, No Cows made the official selection for the NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA) Film Festival, marking its festival debut in January 2024.Her short film, Guilty, included in Map of Brooklyn — a series of shorts co-produced with her MFA cohort for their thesis films — went on to be selected as a semi-finalist for the 2024 Serbest International Film FestivalHer latest film projects still in development include a magical realism fantasy feature that’s grounded in African mythology, a biographical feature adaptation, as well as a speculative fiction thriller feature.She's currently writing her first romance fiction novel Heir Born set to be completed in 2027.Staying true to her journalism roots, Tumi also recently freelanced as Contributing Editor, and subsequently Head of Journalism and Editorial for Deeds Magazine — a digital publication that covers stories from creatives and artists in Africa and the diaspora.
Production credits, in and out of the entertainment industry, include radio producer and news broadcaster at Rhodes Music Radio; co-writer and 1st AD on the series of shorts Map of Brooklyn, as well as writer, producer, director and editor on her web series pilot The Tiny Space In Between.She also boasts credits on the New York leg of American stand-up comic and The Daily Show correspondent Michael Kosta's one-hour Comedy Central stand-up special, Michael Kosta: Detroit. NY. LA.; as post production logger for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah; associate story producer on MTV and Paramount Plus unscripted competition series The Challenge and The Challenge: All Stars, as well as director and producer on various promotional print and digital content in both South Africa and the United States.Tumi, who's a full member of the Writers Guild of South Africa (WGSA), is currently in development on a feature adaptation of No Vows, No Cows, setting it against the culturally rich backdrops that are South Africa and Nigeria. Through her production company where she's a co-founder, Van TuKa Street (Pty) Ltd in South Africa, she’s also working to secure funding for development and production of her slate of projects.
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